Increase your body awareness: How is your body feeling today?

 

I wanted to touch base with you today about one of the most overlooked–but most beneficial things–about receiving regular massages: increased body awareness. This is one of my favorite benefits of massage, but it’s something that most people don’t even consider in their daily lives.

How many times have you been on my massage table and as I’m working on a certain area, you realize just how sore that area is? It happens all the time, not only to you, but to all of my clients and sometimes even to myself when I get a massage.

Most of us don’t take enough time during the day to pay attention to our body or to our breathing.

Even if we do realize we’ve got a headache or a backache, we don’t stop to think about what the cause may be: we just reach for the pain relievers and move on with our day.

If we spent more time in our bodies, focusing on the amazing vessels we walk around in, we might realize a lot of things that go unnoticed.

Do it now: Close your eyes, take some slow, deep breaths. Do a body scan. Start at the top at your head and work your way down. Is there tension or pain anywhere? If so, breathe into that spot and visualize those muscles releasing, asking the pain where it comes from. Does the pain/tension feel like twitching, shaking, or crying? Let it! Keep breathing there, bringing fresh oxygen and blood (which it needs to heal) to those tense places. Keep working your way down your body, repeating this practice throughout all of the troubled places.

How do you feel after doing this exercise?

 

Better right? This is how getting a massage works, too: you’re lying peacefully and relaxed on the massage table, and even if you’re talking during your massage, your thoughts and attention are still on the feeling taking place in your body. This is an incredibly loving thing to for yourself, to give yourself time, space and attention.

Our bodies work so hard for us. They get up every morning and go, go, go for us. Sometimes they have pains that might put us down for a while. What’s the reason behind that? Have we been overworking it? Have we been storing some kind of trauma there that we need to release? Did we sustain injuries from a car accident, fall, or emotional trauma that might be affecting us now?

We need to pay more attention to our bodies.

 

We need to be IN our bodies, love them, protect them, nurture them. Regular massages are a great way to do that, and I know that sometimes, for some of you, that’s the only time you relax because you’re so busy!

I do my best to make your massage therapy appointment all about you. It’s a peaceful environment, and I work hard to be as grounded and as present as possible. I take care of myself regularly with massages, chiropractic, energy work, meditation, etc., so I can take the best care of you. The essential oils add-on has turned out to be an amazingly effective way to add another level of healing to your massage.

This simple, 5-minute guided meditation is for you to help me help you, in between your massages, which you can book from here.

Your body is precious. Treat it with care.